Communication link termination indication signal method and apparatus

ABSTRACT

Upon detecting ( 11 ) at a two-way communication device that a communication link has been terminated, the two-way communication device can provide ( 14 ) a unique corresponding signal (such as a unique audible signal) to indicate such termination. Pursuant to one approach, a plurality of such unique signals ( 13 ) are available and a specific one of the available signals is selected ( 12 ) for use in a given circumstance using a selection criteria of choice.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates generally to communication link usage and moreparticularly to communication link status indication.

BACKGROUND

Communication devices comprise a generally well-understood area ofendeavor including, but not limited to, two-way communications basedupon, for example, wireless cellular telephony and the like. In manycommunication systems the system infrastructure will assign or otherwisefacilitate the allocation of wireless resources (such as, but notlimited to, radio frequency carriers, time slots, spreading codes, andso forth) to support a given communication session. The constituentelements and the totality of such allocated wireless resources can beviewed as a communication link.

There are times when confusion can arise with respect to whether a givencommunication link continues to persist or whether that link has, infact, become terminated. For example, a given user may perceive,incorrectly, that a given communication link has been terminated whenthey conclude their conversation with another party but fail to take anappropriate action to actually effect the termination of thatcommunication link (for example, some cellular telephones may requirethe user to assert an “END” button to cause the device to activelyeffect termination of a presently extant wireless communication link).When this occurs, the system will typically continue to monitor andtrack the duration of the communication link's persistence foraccounting purposes. This, in turn, can lead to unexpected and undesirednetwork usage, wasted resources, and higher-than-expected accountbilling for the user.

As another example, wireless communication links are subject to variousoperational circumstances that can lead to abrupt termination of thecommunication link. For example, a given user may move from one cellsite to another cell site that has no currently available resources tocommit to supporting a present conversation being conducted by thatuser. When this happens, there is typically no specific indication tothe user that such a drop in services has occurred. Instead, the usermay continue to engage in their part of the conversation until finallydetermining that they are receiving no response from the other party.Such circumstances can significantly negatively impact user experience,in part owing to the problem of determining how much information wasactually conveyed to the other party in order to later continue thatconversation with as little overlap or missed information content aspossible.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above needs are at least partially met through provision of thecommunication link termination indication signal method and apparatusdescribed in the following detailed description, particularly whenstudied in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 2 comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention; and

FIG. 3 comprises a block diagram as configured in accordance withvarious embodiments of the invention.

Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures areillustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily beendrawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioningof some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative toother elements to help to improve understanding of various embodimentsof the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements thatare useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are oftennot depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of thesevarious embodiments of the present invention. It will further beappreciated that certain actions and/or steps may be described ordepicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in theart will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence isnot actually required. It will also be understood that the terms andexpressions used herein have the ordinary meaning as is accorded to suchterms and expressions with respect to their corresponding respectiveareas of inquiry and study except where specific meanings have otherwisebeen set forth herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally speaking, pursuant to these various embodiments, upondetermining that a communication link for a communication device isterminating, a unique corresponding signal is provided at thecommunication device to indicate termination of that communication linkto a user of the communication device. In a preferred approach thecorresponding signal is unique in that the signal is not used for otherannunciation or notice purposes. For example, the communication devicewill not use this signal to also indicate the existence of an incomingcall.

In a preferred approach the unique signal comprises an audible signal.In an optional but preferred approach, a plurality of candidate uniquesignals are available at the communication device. So configured, auser, for example, can select particular candidate unique signals to usein particular circumstances or settings to customize their userexperience to their satisfaction. The unique signal itself can compriseany of a wide variety of audible or other content, including but notlimited to musical content, verbal content, sound effects content, andso forth.

So configured, a user will receive a positive indication whenever acommunication link being used by their communication device terminates.This, in turn, can be used to assure the user that the communicationlink is, in fact, operational at times when the user expects thecommunication link to be operational and terminated at times when theuser expects termination to occur. If desired, these assurances aredelivered in a customized and pleasing fashion that enhances andpersonalizes the user experience

These and other benefits may become clearer upon making a thoroughreview and study of the following detailed description. Referring now tothe drawings, and in particular to FIG. 1, a two-way communicationdevice of choice (such as, but not limited to, cellular telephones andother two-way radios of various kinds and types, including platformshaving voice and/or data modes of operation) detects 11 when a presentlyestablished communication link is terminating. This can comprise, forexample, determining at the communication device itself that a wirelesscommunication link is terminating.

Various kinds of communication links are known in the art andconsequently the details regarding detecting the termination of anyparticular communication will necessarily differ with variations in theenabling technology as will be well understood by those skilled in theart. In many cases the communication device will become aware of suchtermination when an otherwise present signal (such as a pilot signal,handshake signal, or other expected and recurrent signal) becomesabsent. In other cases the communication device may become aware (orconfirm) such termination by itself initiating a transmission to whichno expected or required response occurs.

In the absence of detecting such termination, the communication devicecan continue with its other usual and ordinary activities. Upondetecting such termination, however, the communication device canoptionally select 12 a unique signal (for example, from amongst aplurality of candidate unique signals 13). The unique signal willcomprise, in general a user-discernable signal such as a unique auditorysignal, visual signal, or haptic sensation (such as a vibrationpattern).

In a preferred approach the unique signal comprises an audible signal.The audio signal content itself can comprise any known orhereafter-developed audio signal content including but not limited to amonophonic series of tones, a polyphonic series of tones, and/ordigitized audio (such as MP3-compatible digitized audio). Such audiosignal content examples are all well understood in the art and requireno further elaboration here. In a preferred approach such an audiblesignal can comprise any audible content that is capable of uniquelyidentifying a termination event as disclosed below. A non-exhaustivelisting of representative examples would include:

-   -   a commercial jingle;    -   a commercial tagline;    -   a sound sample;    -   a sound effect sample;    -   verbal content; and    -   music (including both instrumental music and music featuring        sung lyrics).        The signal can essentially have any desired duration. In many        cases, it may be preferable to have a relatively short unique        signal having a duration that does not exceed some predetermined        maximum duration (such as, for example, three seconds, ten        seconds, three minutes, and so forth).

When a plurality of such unique signals are available to a givencommunication device, this selection step 12 will typically compriseselection of a particular signal from amongst the plurality of availablesignals. The selection criteria itself can vary with the needs and/orrequirements of a given application and setting. To illustrate, one canselect a particular unique signal from amongst a plurality of availableunique signals as a function, at least in part, of at least one of:

-   -   a specific other communication party (for example, a specific        one of the available unique signals can be used when signaling        the termination of a communication link that had been used to        facilitate a communication with a specific third party);    -   a time of day (for example, one unique signal might be used to        indicate termination of communication links as may occur prior        to noon and another, different unique signal might be used to        indicate termination of communication links as may occur        following noon);    -   a random selection amongst the available unique signals;    -   the type of communication link that has been terminated (for        example, one unique signal might be used to indicate termination        of a cellular communication link and another, different unique        signal might be used to indicate termination of a Bluetooth        communication link);    -   a duration of the communication link prior to being terminated        (for example, one unique signal might be used to indicate        termination of a communication link that has been active for        less than five minutes and another, different unique signal        might be used to indicate termination of a communication link        that has been active for more than five minutes); to name but a        few.

Pursuant to these teachings, the communication unit then provides 14 aunique corresponding signal at the communication device to indicatetermination of the communication link. In a preferred approach theprovided unique signal will comprise the previously selected uniquesignal when a particular signal has been optionally selected fromamongst a plurality of unique signals as described above. Various waysare known in the art to effect the provision of such unique signals asare mentioned above. Furthermore, these teachings are not particularlysensitive to the selection and/or use of any particular approach in thisregard. Therefore, for the sake of brevity and the preservation ofnarrative focus, further detailed description of such techniques willnot be provided here.

As a more specific example, these teachings can be employed tofacilitate a unique audible notice as to when a wireless communicationlink has become terminated for whatever reason. More particularly, atleast one audible signal can be provided at a two-way wirelesscommunication device, which audible signal is uniquely used to identifytermination of the wireless communication link but which is not to beused to identify other events, conditions, and/or states at thiscommunication device. Upon then detecting at the two-way wirelesscommunication device that a given wireless communication link has beenterminated, the audible signal can be rendered audible to therebyprovide a unique audible signal to a user of the two-way wirelesscommunication device that the given wireless communication link has beenterminated.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that there are various ways toprovision such a two-way communication device with one or more suchunique signals. Pursuant to one approach, the device can simply beloaded with one or more such signals as a factory preset. Pursuant toanother approach, and referring now again to FIG. 1, one or more suchunique signals can optionally be downloaded 15 to the two-waycommunication device. Such downloading can be facilitated in any of awide variety of manners in accordance with well understood prior arttechnique, including by transmission of the corresponding data to thetwo-way communication device using a wireless carrier channel.

Upon downloading such a signal, it will then typically be desirable tostore 16 the downloaded unique signal for future use. Such storage canbe conditioned as desired. For example, a pre-established limit may beprovided to prevent storage and/or use of the downloaded signal beyond agiven date, time, or event. In other cases, it may be preferable topermit unconditioned use of downloaded unique signals.

Optionally, and referring now to FIG. 2, upon provisioning and/or beingotherwise informed of usage of such unique signals 21 with respect to agiven two-way communication device, an appropriate accounting platformfor the service provider can facilitate assessing 22 a correspondingfee. For example, a specific one-time fee may be assessed for eachdownloaded unique signal. As another example, a fee may be assessed foreach time the unique signal is used by a given two-way communicationdevice. As yet another example, a monthly fee may be assessed for solong as a given communication device retains the stored unique signal.Other possibilities exist as well as will be well recognized by thoseskilled in the art.

As noted above, these teachings can be usefully employed in conjunctionwith a wide variety of communications platforms. In many cases, as willbe well understood by those skilled in the art, modern communicationdevices comprise partially or even wholly programmable platforms thatcan be readily configured to adopt and implement the describedfunctionality. As a more specific illustrative example, and referringnow to FIG. 3, a given communication device 30 can comprise, in relevantpart, a communication link termination detector 31 of choice thatoperably couples to, for example, a transceiver 32. So configured, thecommunication link termination detector 31 serves, at least in part, tomonitor the operation of the transceiver 32 and in particular to detectwhen a communication link (such as a wireless communication link) beingused by the transceiver 32 has been terminated for whatever reason.

The communication link termination detector 31, in turn, operablycouples to a signal driver 33 such as, in a preferred approach, anaudible signal driver. The latter serves to drive a user perceivablesignal output 34 of choice and as may be appropriate to compatiblyaudibilize the signal content of choice. In a preferred approach, thesignal driver 33 operably couples to a memory 35 having one or moreaudible signals stored therein. So configured, the signal driver 33 canselect a particular one of a plurality of stored audible signals whenthe memory 35 has a corresponding plurality of such signals storedtherein.

So configured, those skilled in the art will understand and appreciatethat such an apparatus will readily detect the termination of acommunication link and respond to such detection by providing a signal,such as an audible signal, that uniquely identifies the communicationlink termination event. This, in turn, permits a user of the device tobe well informed with respect to the presence and/or absence of a viablecommunication link and can use and leverage that understanding withfollow-on actions of choice to best accommodate a given condition.

There may be times, however, when a user may wish to temporarily defeatthe above-described operability. For example, a given user may wish todisable this capability for some period of time while engaged in aparticular activity or while visiting a particular venue. As anotherexample, a given user may wish to effect an early conclusion of aprovided signal during playback. To accommodate such a need, if desired,a user-selectable signal driver inhibit 36 can be operably coupled tothe signal driver 33 to permit and facilitate such an action. Such amechanism can assume any suitable form factor and human-machineinterface of choice, including but not limited to push buttons, slidingswitches, touch screen displays, a voice recognition interface, and soon.

It should now be evident and clear that these teachings permit a user tobe apprised of when a communication link, such as a wirelesscommunication link, has been terminated. This information can be used invarious ways. In particular, such an indication can be used to correctlyinform a user who otherwise incorrectly believes that a givencommunication link is available and active. Such an indication, whenexpected but absent, can also serve to inform a user that a givencommunication link remains viable and active notwithstanding a contraryuser impression. Many users will appreciate that such information,important in and of itself, is also capable of being delivered in apersonalized and highly customizable manner. Those skilled in the artwill appreciate that these benefits are attainable with littlefundamental change to many communication devices being necessary. Ingeneral, these teachings can be implemented in a highly cost effectivemanner.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that a wide variety ofmodifications, alterations, and combinations can be made with respect tothe above described embodiments without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention, and that such modifications, alterations, andcombinations are to be viewed as being within the ambit of the inventiveconcept.

1. A method comprising: providing at a wireless communication device a plurality of available candidate unique user selectable corresponding signals; determining whenever that a wireless communication link for the wireless communication device has terminated either intentionally or unintentionally and without another specific positive indication to an end user of the wireless communication device; in response to determining that the wireless communication link has terminated for whatever reason and without regard as to why the wireless communication link has terminated, generating at the wireless communication device a unique user selected corresponding signal at the wireless communication device by selecting the unique user selected corresponding signal from amongst a plurality of available candidate unique user selectable corresponding signals to indicate termination of the wireless communication link, wherein the signal comprises at least one of musical content and spoken content.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining whenever that a wireless communication link for a wireless communication device has terminated comprises determining, at the communication device, that the wireless communication link has terminated.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein providing generating at the wireless communication device a unique user selected corresponding signal at the wireless communication device comprises retrieving audio signal content from a memory and using the audio signal content to provide the unique user selected corresponding audible signal.
 4. The method of claim 3 wherein retrieving audio signal content from a memory comprises retrieving at least one of: a monophonic series of tones; a polyphonic series of tones; digitized audio.
 5. The method of claim 4 wherein the digitized audio comprises MP3-compatible digitized audio.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein providing generating at the wireless communication device a unique user selected corresponding signal at the wireless communication device comprises providing at least one of: a commercial jingle; a commercial tagline; a sound sample; a sound effect sample; verbal content; music; a user-discernable haptic sensation.
 7. The method of claim 1 further comprising: downloading the unique user selected corresponding signal at the wireless communication device to provide a downloaded unique signal.
 8. The method of claim 7 further comprising: storing the downloaded unique signal.
 9. A wireless communication device having a wireless communication link termination detector that detects termination of a wireless communication link being used by the wireless communication device regardless of whether the termination is intentional or unintentional, the wireless communication device comprising: at least one stored audible signal that identifies a termination event, wherein the at least one stored audible signal comprises a user selectable signal comprising at least one of musical content and spoken content; an audible signal driver that is operably coupled to the at least one stored audible signal and that is responsive to the wireless communication link termination detector, such that the audible signal driver is configured to causes the at least one stored audible signal to be rendered audible in response to the communication link termination detector detecting the termination of a communication link regardless of whether the termination is intentional or unintentional to thereby uniquely indicate that the wireless communication link has been terminated.
 10. The wireless communication device of claim 9 wherein the wireless communication link termination detector comprises means for detecting termination of a wireless communication link.
 11. The wireless communication device of claim 9 wherein the at least one stored audible signal comprises at least one of: a monophonic series of tones; a polyphonic series of tones; digitized audio.
 12. The wireless communication device of claim 9 further comprising a user-selectable audible signal driver inhibit that is operably coupled to the audible signal driver.
 13. A method of facilitating a unique audible notice as to when a wireless communication link is intentionally or unintentionally terminated, comprising: providing at a wireless communication device a plurality of available candidate unique user selectable corresponding signals; providing at a two-way wireless communication device at least one audible signal that is selectable from amongst the plurality of available candidate unique user selectable corresponding signals to be used to identify termination of the wireless communication link but which is not to be used to identify other events, conditions, and states, wherein the audible signal comprises at least one of musical content and spoken content; detecting at the two-way wireless communication device that a given wireless communication link being used by the two-way wireless communication device has been terminated, either intentionally or unintentionally; in response to detecting termination of the given wireless communication link, rendering the at least one audible signal audible to provide a unique audible signal to a user of the two-way wireless communication device that the given wireless communication link has been terminated.
 14. The method of claim 13 wherein the at least one audible signal has a duration of less than a predetermined maximum duration.
 15. The method of claim 13 further comprising: assessing a fee as corresponds to at least one of providing and using the at least one audible signal. 